connecting*the*dots

So I tried out Google Reader today after reading of its demo at the Web 2.0 conference (another event where I refuse to drop $3,000). If Google truly believes that Reader is 2.0 because it has a bunch of superfluous Ajax, well, they’re spot on. It probably won best in show.

Now, in terms of using/sharing data across a collaborative Web 2.0 network, they’re still playing by proprietary rules. RSS, by definition, covers the using part of the recipricle data equation. As for sharing?

Why can’t I blog a feed directly through my blog tool of choice? (as with flickr) Yes, I know Google owns Blogger, but opting to proceed with a business decision (to close the gates), instead of running with a user need (to keep them open), says a bunch about the Google temperament. Similarly, the goal of sharing feeds via email is a closed venture as well, with that task relegated to Gmail. This isn’t a personal complaint, I use Gmail, but this is a Web 2.0 critique of the application. Where are the open hooks? Where are my choices? Where is the metaphor to my personal, home network?

Google Reader fits the Web 2.0 mold only in that it is a product that leverages other smart aspects of its own network. Presenting a varied use of features from search and Gmail in the user experience (e.g. filters and labeling) doesn’t project Reader over the Google wall and into the world of Web 2.0. Iterating a domain with progressive, interoperable features isn’t 2.0; it’s really good 1.0.

To borrow a term from peterme, Google is still playing within their own sandbox.

UPDATE: It looks like at least a few other people agree with this review. I think the rest have imbibed the “forever beta” Kool-Aid.

UPDATE II: Let me make my position of labeling clear. Assigning attributes, in any file management system, is absolutely the way to go moving forward. The old school, developer-centric, folder-in-a-folder paradigm is completely backwards if the system has a search engine that can properly retrieve and presents object attribute tags. Google’s overall implementation of labeling is very forward thinking, but managing the same degree of a personal label universe found in a flickr or del.icio.us is an interface challenge that hasn’t been tackled in this alpha-beta release.